Disney Hates On HTML5

Dianne de Guzman

Sep. 13, 2010, 5:39 PM

Disney-ABC EVP Albert Cheng told a crowd at the Appnation conference today that HTML5 video is "not ready" for ABC.

He gave two reasons:

No room for ads. Without the ability to insert ads, Disney-ABC has little interest in moving towards HTML5. By pushing users towards an exclusive Disney or ABC mobile app, Disney can then insert their own ads at and re-direct users towards ABC-only content without fear of losing them to other content providers.

Little to no copyright protection. This is a major gripe most media companies have when displaying their content and could be another reason why others may stay with a dedicated app for each network.

Instead of re-jiggering its Web sites for HTML5, Disney will continue to emphasize content-distribution through apps.